
Playing with the Guys
Masculinity and Relationships in Video Games
Marc A. Ouellette(Author)
Matthew Wilhelm Kapell(Editor)
McFarland & Co Inc (Publisher)
Published on 11. June 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
249 pages
978-1-4766-7139-0 (ISBN)
Description
A lot of work has been done talking about what masculinity is and what it does within video games, but less has been given to considering how and why this happens, and the processes involved. This book considers the array of daily relationships involved in producing masculinity and how those actions and relationships translate to video games. Moreover, it examines the ways the actual play of the games maps onto the stories to create contradictory moments that show that, while toxic masculinity certainly exists, it is far from inevitable. Topics covered include the nature of masculine apprenticeship and nurturing, labor, fatherhood, the scapegoating of women, and reckoning with mortality, among many others.
Reviews / Votes
"This is a tour de force fusion of gender studies, game studies, and critical theory. As with the very best, it transcends the dry label of 'academic book' and instead operates more as a detective novel. It asks the reader to follow a trail of evidence, puzzles, clues, and consider more than a few red herrings the author-as-detective picks apart in meticulous, incisive style. The reader is led, piece-by-piece, to frequently surprising, always insightful deductions. The rigour Professor Ouellette demonstrates in dissecting and analysing masculinity is in and of itself praiseworthy, but what really leaps towards the reader is the original and provocative thought accompanying such precision. Ouellette performs a dance between various disciplines, thinkers and concepts, offering ways of thinking through and with masculinity that feel wholly fresh and novel...a thrilling, timely read."-Steven Conway, Swinburne University of Technology "This book provides a much needed framework for thinking about constructions of masculinity in media and game studies--balancing much needed critiques with larger questions about the generation and transmission of notions of the masculine."-Josh Call, professor of English, Grand View University "Recommended"-ChoiceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Jefferson, NC
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
412 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4766-7139-0 (9781476671390)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Marc A. Ouellette is an award-winning educator who teaches cultural and gender studies at Old Dominion University, where he is the Learning Games Initiative Research Fellow. Series editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University in New York.
Content
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1.?Essentially Playing: Considering Gender, Sex and Sexuality in Video Games and Game Scholarship
Chapter 2.?Builders of Boys, Makers of Men: Examining the Ludic Processes of the Masculine Apprenticeship
Chapter 3.?"Putting some work in": Masculinity, Labor and -Hypo-ludicity
Chapter 4.?"I am sworn to carry your burdens": Eliminating and Scapegoating Women in Video Games
Chapter 5.?"Welcome to the family, son": Maligned and Misunderstood Fathers in "Dadified" Video Games
Chapter 6.?"It's the terror of knowing": Resurrection, Melancholia and the Elegiac Game
Afterword
Chapter Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1.?Essentially Playing: Considering Gender, Sex and Sexuality in Video Games and Game Scholarship
Chapter 2.?Builders of Boys, Makers of Men: Examining the Ludic Processes of the Masculine Apprenticeship
Chapter 3.?"Putting some work in": Masculinity, Labor and -Hypo-ludicity
Chapter 4.?"I am sworn to carry your burdens": Eliminating and Scapegoating Women in Video Games
Chapter 5.?"Welcome to the family, son": Maligned and Misunderstood Fathers in "Dadified" Video Games
Chapter 6.?"It's the terror of knowing": Resurrection, Melancholia and the Elegiac Game
Afterword
Chapter Notes
References
Index